Christie's Sues Halsey Minor for Fraud

Sotheby’s Isn’t Very Happy with Him Either

Charlottesville newsblog The Hook details the latest in Minor’s soap opera with both auction houses:

Christie’s is alleging in a lawsuit filed on Monday in Northern California federal court. The art clearinghouse is suing Minor for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract over $7 million he bid for three paintings he purchased at an auction in July. In the complaint, the auction house’s attorneys allege that Minor did not have $7 million to spend when he bid on the paintings last summer.

“Minor did not have sufficient resources to pay for the Artworks at the time of the bidding,” the Christie’s complaint alleges, “and further, that Minor knew that he did not have sufficient resources to pay for the Artworks at the time of the bidding, and that he would not have such resources at the time the payment was due.” [ . . . ]

If true, the allegation that Minor is out of money is particularly damning at a time when Minor is also fending off a suit from New York auction house Sotheby’s for not paying for $16.8 million for another three paintings, and when construction on the Landmark Hotel– the nine-story luxury hotel Minor owns– has come to a standstill. The halt on the $31-million project comes only two months after Georgia-based lender Silverton Bank temporarily withheld funds on the project.

Minor’s spending on high-priced luxury items doesn’t end with art. As the Hook reported in a November cover story, Minor has also spent $77.8 million on real estate in Virginia and California, and another $6.3 million on two thoroughbred racehorses, in addition an untold sum he spent for a Bill Lear-designed Canadair Challenger jet he reportedly uses to commute between his homes in Virginia and San Francisco.